Western Waste contract may be dumped: two-pronged attack hits alleged improprieties in deal.Western Waste contract may be dumped Western Waste Industries could be stripped of a $25 million, five-year contract to haul all the trash in Redondo Beach Redondo Beach (rĭdŏn`dō), city (1990 pop. 60,167), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1892. Once a commercial port for Los Angeles, it is a residential and resort city with a protected harbor and an excellent marina. by a City Council vote or a referendum spurred by charges that the contract was obtained improperly. "It's my belief that the contract awarded (should) be a void contract A void contract, also known as a void agreement, is not actually a contract. A void contract cannot be enforced by law. Void contracts are different from voidable contracts, which are contracts that may be (but not necessarily will be) nullified. , " said Councilman Stevan Colin. "The process was a sham. You have all these people down at city Hall asserting Western Waste's position." Carson-based Western Waste was allowed to change its bid after others were opened because company officials said they had made mistakes calculating the price, said Ken Montgomery Ken Montgomery (born January 5 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for North Melbourne in the VFL. A half back flanker, Montgomery was a premiership player with North Melbourne in 1977, having missed out on their flag win two years earlier. , director of public works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. . There was also no public hearing when the contract was awarded to Western Waste by the old City Council last month, Montgomery added. One new councilman, Joe White, who during his campaign pledged to review the waste contract, took office last week. He replaced Councilman Ron Cawdrey, a long-time Western Waste backer. It is Western Waste's understanding that no public hearing was needed on the type of contract being awarded, said Mark Bozajian, a Western Waste executive vice president. He added that the city placed an advertisement in a local newspaper which noted the City Council was planning to consider the exclusive contract at its next meeting. The City Council, altered by White's election, is expected to vote 3-2 to rescind To declare a contract void—of no legal force or binding effect—from its inception and thereby restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had no contract ever been made. rescind v. the contract at a meeting May 30. Redondo Beach Mayor Brad Parton par·ton n. Any of the point particles believed to be a constituent of hadrons, now known as quarks. No longer in technical use. [part(icle) + -on1.] , however, said he may veto the action because he fears that Western Waste will sue the city if the contract is scrapped. Even if the council fails to rescind the contract, the people of Redondo Beach could vote to throw it out. The local office of Houston-based Browning Ferris Industries is gathering signatures from registered voters in Redondo Beach to call a special referendum on rescinding the contract. The petition alleges the city entered into a "sweetheart deal Sweetheart Deal A merger or company sale where one company involved in the deal gives the other very attractive terms and conditions. Notes: In other words, a sweetheart deal is a transaction that a firm simply cannot pass-up. This is usually considered to be unethical. " with Western. Western Waste denied the contract was improperly awarded. "This contract was awarded to Western Waste after a lengthy competitive process, which included submission and evaluation of written proposals, months of presentations and public input before the city's Resource Conservation Commission, city staff and City Council," Bozajian said. BFI BFI - brute force and ignorance , using a political consulting Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. As democracy has spread around the world, American political consultants have often developed an international base of clients. firm and paid signature gatherers, by last week had gathered 2,000 of the 3,300 signatures needed to call a special election, said Edward King Edward King refers to more than one person;
BFI currently earns $2 million per year servicing Redondo Beach apartments and businesses, income it would lose if the contract goes through, since it excludes BFI and 10 other haulers from doing business in Redondo Beach, King said. "We just want a fair shake fair shake n. Informal A fair chance, as at achieving success. and we don't think we're being unreasonable," King said. "If things can be handled fairly, openly, we can live with that process." Ron Cawdrey, a former city councilman who left office this month, called the efforts to rescind the contract "political." He added, "Western came out with the best bid by far, that's why we accepted it. If they (the new council) want to take away the best deal ... it doesn't make any sense to me." The referendum and council action are just the latest controversy surrounding Western Waste activities in Redondo Beach. There have been other charges of impropriety: * Western Waste was allowed to operate its recycling facility rent-free on an acre of city land for nine years, despite elimination of non-profitable recycling operations which had been the original rationale for providing the free land. * A Western Waste attorney was a member of the city's Resource Conservation Commission charged with writing the proposal request for the exclusive waste contract. * Western Waste employed the son of former councilman Cawdrey, who made two motions to negotiate contracts with Western without going to a bid process. The potential loss of the contract would mark a setback for Western Waste, which in recent years has grown rapidly through acquisitions of landfills and smaller disposal companies. The company had net income of $9.7 million on revenues of $172.0 million in fiscal 1990 and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. on April 1. The company's 88 contracts with municipalities - some 20 to 30 of which are in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, - form the backbone of the company's profits, said one analyst. "Those contracts are very important," said Randy Scherago, an analyst at San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden brokerage firm Robertson, Stephens & Co. "The municipal contracts provide very stable income because they go on for five to seven years. There is a lot of turnover in commercial contracts." Western Waste was officially awarded the exclusive Redondo Beach contract on May 8, a week before councilman Cawdrey left office. Crawdrey was a long-time backer of Western Waste, which has held a contract to handle the city's residential disposal needs for about 10 years. Councilman Colin had repeatedly objected to Cawdrey's involvement in the contract discussions because his son, Ron Cawdrey Jr., works for Western Waste. Cawdrey said the state Fair Political Practices Commission had ruled that he did not have an illegal conflict of interest despite his son's employment and his receipt of $1,500 in campaign contributions from Western Waste executives. On May 22, after meeting in closed session, City Council members voted to hold a special hearing on whether the contract should be rescinded on May 30. The council had to set special action because the contract goes into effect June 7, before the next regularly scheduled council meeting. City officials are concerned that Western Waste will sue if the city rescinds its contract, which has been signed, Parton added. He called BFI "two-faced" for complaining about the exclusive contract in Redondo Beach when the company has long held an exclusive contract to haul trash in neighboring Hermosa Beach Hermosa Beach (hûrmō`sə), city (1990 pop. 18,219), Los Angeles co., S Calif., on Santa Monica Bay; inc. 1907. It is a residential suburb and a popular resort noted for its fine, sandy beaches and excellent surf. . Parton said Western Waste has a reputation for providing better service than BFI. "There is a prejudice in our City Hall towards Western Waste," Parton said. "They have a reputation in the quality of their service." |
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